On the other hand, when the first information came out about Warcraft III -- and it's RPG elements, I was sure it was going to suck. But when it came out, it was awesome.

And then when Blizzard announced World of Warcraft -- I thought, well there is a Blizzard game I'll never play. But lo and behold, WoW became the first MMORPG I ever played and I'm still playing it almost 3 years later.

So, yes this announcement is a lot of hand waving over not very much information -- but when it comes to Blizzard underestimating them is something you shouldn't do. I'd be very surprised if I'm not impressed by their "Next-Gen MMO."

I agree with PropheT - I'm willing to bet it's World of Starcraft. The timing is too perfect in relation to the upcoming Starcraft 2 release. A Diablo MMO would be in direct competition with WoW in the fantasy genre. Besides, "Actard" knows they'd stand to make a hell of a lot more money with a Starcraft MMO considering the Korean market. It just makes good business sense.

Why. in the. HELL. Has this never crossed my mind before? Oh, wait, yeah, it's my favorite game combined with my least favorite genre (slightly below Rhythm-Based Gem-Matching JRPG-esque Golf Management Sims Featuring Panda Bears, so it's well down there). I'd love to see it done along the lines of Guild Wars, but with, at the very least, regular major story chapters where the world and story evolve based on player's choices and, of course, who wins. DX's hallmark, multiple paths in an objective based map, either solo PvE, co-op PvE, or PvP, would be butter. Give each battle a point, working your side towards a group, area, or faction goal, and reward it with everything from player XP and technology, to affecting PvP areas in your favor, to (eventually) giving your whole faction a boost. If you want to give high-level players something to do when they hit the cap, why not let them work for their whole 'side', rather than just raid time and again in hope of some Tier 6 drops? And when one side does get ahead, let the other(s) run counterintelligence to catch up, but make sure the reward's still worth it. Give a good risk/reward to missions in addition to multi-stage objectives and payouts (two players sneaking past a dozen in a high-sec facility pays out far better than smashing up a lightly defended guardpost in the city). And I could go on and on, but I'll rein in the page-long post I could easily make right here.

Curse you, Jerykk, for putting that idea in my head. Now I've gotta wait for (Eidos to go bankrupt*?) the it'll-be-not-quite-as-good-as-the-original-but-better-than-IW DX3 and hope that its multiplayer, if in existence, will even come close to the possibilities popping 'round my neurons right now.

* Financially, not morally or creatively. Past the expiration date for those.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. They basically used Warcraft 3 as a stepping stone for the story of World of Warcraft... them doing the same thing with Starcraft wouldn't be surprising at all.

Exactly. The similarities between WoW and Diablo (fantasy) are too similar for Diablo to make a real go of it as a MMORPG. With Starcraft they can go sci-fi. That's why Ghost more than likely got shitcanned. It was re-tooled into a MOG. I don't much care, so long as Diablo 3 makes an appearance sooner than later.

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